Despite a slim agenda Wednesday night, echoes of the city's budget woes remained present in both council comment and from the public.

Former city council member Curt Bryan sounded off against the council and previous councils regarding the $4.5 million loan from the Wastewater fund and funneled it into other funds.

Bryan stated previous councils should have seen the forthcoming budget cycle and taken the appropriate steps. He expressed a fear that the city might head toward bankruptcy some time down the road if action was not taken.

Tom Wiknich put out the idea that council should look how the budget is presented, a thorough review of the city's revenue and whether the programs in the Parks and Recreation Department paid for themselves or not. Wiknich suggested that direct and indirect costs be taken into consideration for programs to consider the whole picture.

Jerry Taylor said that the council could utilize council comment on the budget issues, even if council could not take action during that closing session.

“It is has been 63 days since you addressed the budget and your revenue projections are not accurate,” Taylor said.

He said the revenue projections are not what the city would be expected. He also called attention to the fact that the Gas Tax fund was $583,000 in the hole.

“I strong urge you to get this agenda, not to do a budget review but to set goals,” he said. “Sequestration is going to happen. That is another impact on your revenue.”

He indicated that the Navy was only doing critical travel, he said, and underscored the Navy's tightened purse strings in its decision not to send a second aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf.

“That is how bad things are right now,” he said.

Ridgecrest resident Paul Vanderwerf touched on his comments from prior city council meetings in that how the city is addressing the budget by comparing it to the Lakers basketball season.

He urged the council needed a sense of urgency to move forward on the fiscal issue it faced. He said financial data such as the ones Measure L would need would address the need for financial transparency plaguing the city.

“The real solution is getting our finance director and accounting staff to get the transparency of the information so that every one can see that, and I think these other issues will go away,” Vanderwerf said.

Sequestration Letter

An emergency resolution approval request made by Vice Mayor Chip Holloway also underscored the budgetary cycle the city faced.

Holloway drafted a letter addressed each to Sens. Barabara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein and Congressman Kevin McCarthy asking them to step up to the plate and end the issue of sequestration.

Holloway said he had felt somewhat hypocritical writing the letter, knowing the city would be faced with making similar cuts.

“On one hand, we're going to be requesting the exact same thing at the city council level and people are going to come to us in droves with their own version of this letter,” Holloway said from the dais.

He said in relative terms, the city would be faced with cutting a larger percentage of than the federal government, even if the amount was far less.

“But one thing I do disagree with is the method that they came up with, and that is they are taking 50 percent of that cut from the defense department,” he said. “I don't disagree with their concept, I disagree with their methods.”

Holloway encouraged the public to use a sample letter provided by the Chamber of Commerce on its website to follow a similar action in writing to both senators and McCarthy.

Both Holloway and Mayor Pro Tem Jason Patin asked what the timetable was for budget discussions.

Interim City Manager Dennis Speer indicated that the idea was to move forward after a permanent city manager was in place rather than run the risk of the council and city staff running in two different directions.

Patin recommended at least there be a discussion among the council members of where they wanted their goals for the city to head in.

Councilman Jim Sanders used the example of a engineer working on base to reflect a 20 percent cut in pay instituted through likely furloughs.

“For a typical engineer, that 20 percent of his income is going to be all his discretionary spending,” Sanders said. “He's going to be able to pay the bills, pay the mortgage and the utilities but that's pretty much it. He's not going shopping.”